Page:The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth century (1887) - Volume 1.djvu/357

 BALVAIRD CASTLE 337 THIRD PERIOD There is also a small wall chamber with its original door adjoining the fireplace. The garde-robes are placed so that the flues all descend together in one vent. The soil from the garde-robes fell into a small chamber on the ground floor, and was removed by pulling out a move- able stone at the ground level outside. FIG. 288. Balvaird Castle. Plan of First Floor. This circumstance of a stone being removeable from the castle wall, and in communication with a flue, derives confirmation from the lines in the ballad of " Edom o' Gordon," where the besieged matron cries from the battlements to her traitorous servant, who seems to have shown the besiegers how the keep might be set on fire : " Wae worth, wae worth ye, Jock, ma man, I paid ye weel your fee, Why pu' ye out the grund-wa-stane, Lets in th e reek to me ? Wae worth, wae worth ye, Jock, ma man, I paid ye weel your hire, Why pu' ye out the grund-wa-stane, To me lets in the fire ? " and it explains the meaning of the twice-recurring line in the ballad, "Why pu' ye out the grund-wa'-stane ?" as referring to a known move- able stone with a specific name, the pulling out of which would give access to the smoke from burning branches piled against the castle wall. There is an unusual arrangement of stone spouts from the roof, v